This is timely since I was just thinking the other day about the importance of having experiences as a writer. I get so many ideas out of being in all kinds of situations good and bad. Experiencing things makes you look, ponder and wonder. I recently had a great experience where we were camping and the sky was clear, the trees and plants were welcoming spring and then it started raining. We went to bed in our tents protected from the rain as it rained harder and harder. I fell asleep only to wake up just minutes before the tent collapsed on top of us from SNOW. We escaped the tent to find the entire campground covered in 4 inches. I couldn't help but laugh.

I have all kinds of reasons to give people for my moving to San Francisco last year, but in all honesty I came because I based my spec(s) here. This post just gives me that extra confirmation that I made the right decision.

I often start a story with a picture in my mind: one character in one setting. One of the projects I'm working on at the moment I see set in the Arizona desert. Problem is, I've never been there nor can I afford to right now ... I have done some web/photograhic/imagination research and hope it will be enough for a first draft. Still, I can't help but be a little worried - and very frustrated - that it will never be as good as if I could experience it first-hand.